(Helsingør, Denmark -) – England’s Melissa Reid eagled her last two holes to surge six shots clear of the field at the Nykredit Masters in Denmark on Saturday.
Reid added a seven-under-par 66 to her opening 67 to finish on a total of 13-under-par after 36 holes at Simon’s Golf Club near Helsingør.
Annika Sorenstam, who is making her last appearance in Europe as a pro golfer, shot 68 to share second with overnight leader Martina Eberl of Germany (73) on seven-under-par going into the final round.
Derbyshire based Reid, who will be 21 later this month, carded three straight birdies from the sixth hole then bogeyed the 14th before picking up five shots over her closing three holes.
After hitting a brilliant shot in to eight feet at the par four 16th and sinking the birdie putt, Reid rolled in a 35-footer for eagle at the 513-yard par-five 17th hole, before chipping in from the front of the green at the 507-yard par-five 18th.
“Today I struck it a lot better,” said first year tour player Reid, ranked 12th in Europe with season’s earnings of 98,666.02 Euros. “I’ve had a couple of good weeks practise and I was just trying to keep it simple. I missed a couple of short five footers but overall I was pretty happy. The finish, birdie, eagle, eagle; you can’t complain about that.”
Reid will play with her long term heroine Sorenstam in the final round and she added: “It’s so weird. I have pictures of her and stuff in my room still and I have her book right next to me on the bed, just on the side. It’s weird that I’ll be playing with her tomorrow but it would be pretty cool if I won the tournament and I played with her in the final round. That would really be a win in style.”
Reid has finished second twice on the LET this year, at the ABN AMRO Ladies Open in the Netherlands and at the Ladies English Open. She also finished third at the MFS Women’s Australian Open and feels she has the experience to pull off a victory. “I can win, I am ready to win. I think I am overdue,” she said. “I have played well enough this year to maybe have won a couple of times. I had a good chance in Holland and a great chance at the English. My main goal this year was to win so that is what I want to do.”
Sorenstam, who has won three titles on the LPGA Tour this year, but none since May, said: “Today was better. I got off to a great start. I eagled my third hole and almost made a hole-in-one on my fifth. I played very, very well. I hit the last nine greens and I pretty much hit them all today. I hit a lot of edges and it could have been much lower but very happy to finish birdie, birdie. I’ve come from 10 behind so I know everything is possible. I just have to play some good golf and go from there.”
